Inmate

The Department of Correction has determined in an internal investigation that its staff followed policy and procedure when dealing with an inmate suicide at Northern Correctional Institution in July. Correction officers found 25-year-old James Moore hanging in his cell at 7:46 p.m. on July 22. He had tied a towel around his neck and hung himself from the top rung of the ladder to his bunk, according to a copy of the investigation. The officers opened the cell for medical staff who performed CPR until an ambulance arrived.

Federal prison officials talk a great deal about the importance of preserving the bond between female inmates and their children, the author of "Orange is the New Black" said Wednesday. But their talking points do not reflect the realities of life at the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, said Piper Kerman, whose memoir of her experience as an inmate there was turned into a hit Netflix series. Kerman joined U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy of Connecticut in a conference call Wednesday, urging the Federal Bureau of Prisons to speed up construction of a new low-security prison for women from the Northeast.

BY HILDA MUÑOZ, hmunoz@courant.com and The Hartford Courant, July 21, 2011

A 31-year-old inmate who escaped from a halfway house Wednesday morning turned himself in to West Hartford police later that night, police said. Jose Felix left Open Hearth, a community work release facility and halfway house in Hartford, after a heated argument with a staff member. State police obtained a warrant charging Felix with first-degree escape from a correctional institution and released his description to the media. West Hartford police said Felix walked into the police station's lobby around 11 p.m. and turned himself in. He was recognized as the inmate who had escaped.

The Netflix series "Orange is the New Black" isn't funny to the women who served time in Danbury Federal Prison. I know because I am one of those women. The day after Monday's Emmy Awards, a television morning show invited viewers to tweet about their favorite part of the awards ceremony. I don't tweet. But if I did, I would have said that my favorite part was that "Orange is the New Black" didn't win an award for best comedy. And it shouldn't have. Take it from me, prison life isn't funny.

BY HILDA MUÑOZ, hmunoz@courant.com and The Hartford Courant, December 12, 2012

A 48-year-old man serving a 43-month sentence for drug possession was found dead Tuesday of an apparent suicide in his cell at the Osborn Correctional Institution, the Department of Correction said. Edwardo Velasquez, of Bridgeport, was most recently convicted of possession of less than 4 ounces of marijuana in June 2010. The medical examiner's office will determine the exact cause and manner of death. Correctional staff conducting routine tours at the prison in Somers found Velasquez around 3 a.m. Tuesday with a piece of bedsheet tied around his neck.

A death-row inmate attacked a guard Monday inside Connecticut's highest-security prison, correction officials said. The Northern Correctional Institution was locked down after the inmate, identified by a state lawmaker as Daniel Webb, punched a captain in the head just before 10:30 a.m., said Brian Garnett, a department spokesman. Garnett refused to identify the inmate, but state Rep. Karen Jarmoc, D-Enfield, who served as chairwoman of a task force on safety issues in the prisons, said she was notified that it was Webb, 47, who is awaiting execution for the 1989 murder of bank executive Diane Gellenbeck in Hartford.

By JENNY WILSON, jenwilson@courant.com and The Hartford Courant, February 26, 2014

Aaron Hernandez got into a fight with another inmate Tuesday at the Massachusetts jail where he has been held since his arrest in June, according to people with knowledge of the incident. Hernandez, a Bristol native and former player with the New England Patriots, is being held without bail at the Bristol County House of Corrections in Dartmouth, Mass., charged with murder in the shooting death of Odin Lloyd. Lloyd, a Dorchester man, was romantically involved with the sister of Hernandez's fiancée.

By SAMAIA HERNANDEZ, smhernandez@courant.com and The Hartford Courant, August 3, 2012

A man who was assaulted by a fellow inmate at Osborn Correctional Center has died, state police said. David Dube, 60, of Madison Street, Hartford, was taken to UConn Medical Center Thursday night after he was assaulted by an inmate in a main hallway, according to state police. His condition worsened and he was taken to Yale-New Haven Hospital where he died Friday. The Office of the Chief State's Medical Examiner is scheduled to conduct an autopsy. An investigation is underway.

An inmate, serving an 86-year sentence for rape at MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in Suffield, has added more fuel to a dispute over whether prisoners should have equal access to public records under freedom of information laws. State Sen. John Kissel, R-Enfield, said the inmate, Richard Stevenson, requested a list of his campaign donors from the state Elections Enforcement Commission. "The only motive I can imagine is that it's a way to harass and intimidate my campaign," Kissel said.

State police and the Department of Correction are investigating the death of a 17-year-old boy who was found unresponsive in his cell at the Manson Youth Institution on Monday. Staff at the institution found the inmate motionless in his cell during a regular tour of the facility. They initiated life-saving measures, and the teen was later transported to the Hospital of Central Connecticut at Bradley Memorial and Health Center in Southington, where he was pronounced dead at 5:41 p.m., said Andrius Banevicius.

EAST LYME - A 40-year old inmate serving 25 years for her role in the grisly murder and dismemberment of her drug dealer died of an apparent suicide Thursday at the York Correctional Institution, according to the state Department of Correction. Sherri Clarke, 40, of New Britain, was found unresponsive and alone in her cell at 10:42 a.m. Thursday with a "ligature tied to her neck," according to the Department of Correction. Clarke was taken to Lawrence and Memorial Hospital where she was pronounced dead at 11:33 a.m. Clarke, who had been an inmate at York since September 2009, was serving 25 years for felony murder for her role in the death and dismemberment of her drug dealer, Cornell Johnson, in August of 2009.

By ALAINE GRIFFIN, agriffin@courant.com and The Hartford Courant, July 9, 2014

The state Supreme Court will hear arguments Thursday on whether Russell Peeler Jr., convicted of ordering the 1999 killings of Karen Clarke and her 8-year-old son Leroy "B.J. " Brown in Bridgeport, should have received the death penalty. Peeler, a former drug dealer, raises more than 30 claims in his appeal of the death sentence that examines such issues as whether Peeler's due-process rights were violated either through prosecutorial misconduct, improper instructions to jurors, a lack of presentation to jurors of all relevant mitigating evidence and unreliable jury selection.

By NICHOLAS RONDINONE, nrondinone@courant.com and The Hartford Courant, June 25, 2014

A Connecticut inmate whose liquids-only hunger strike led to a state Supreme Court decision that upheld the rights of prison officials to force-feed prisoners was deported Tuesday to England, according to his attorney and immigration officials. William Coleman, 53, a native of Liverpool, England, waged the hunger strike beginning in 2007. He had been convicted in 2005 of raping his wife during a bitter divorce and custody battle and was given an eight-year sentence. He maintained that his wife had fabricated the allegations.

In late April, a botched execution transpired in Oklahoma. Since then, The Courant has published articles concerning the debate that is unfolding across America about the death penalty. Some individuals in the Obama administration have participated in this debate. At one daily briefing, Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, said executions should be performed humanely and the Oklahoma "case fell short of this standard. " Carney and other members of the Obama administration are in no position to criticize Oklahoma or any other state.

By DAVID OWENS, dowens@courant.com and The Hartford Courant, May 23, 2014

HARTFORD — More than a decade after he fired a bullet into the back of Nahshon Cohen's head, killing him, Lazale Ashby pleaded guilty to the crime Friday in Superior Court. Ashby, 29. who is already on death row for the brutal rape and murder of Elizabeth Garcia in 2002, pleaded guilty on Friday to murder. Ashby's death sentence is on appeal although prosecutors are confident that the best he'll do is life in prison without the possibility of parole. His 25-year sentence for the Cohen murder, imposed by Alexander on Friday, will be concurrent to the sentence he is now serving.

By DAVID OWENS, dowens@courant.com and The Hartford Courant, May 13, 2014

HARTFORD — Lazale Ashby, sentenced to death in 2008 for the rape, kidnapping and murder of a Zion Street woman in 2002, has been offered a plea agreement to resolve another murder and two sexual assault cases pending against him. Ashby, who will never live outside of a prison again, will be briefed by his lawyers on the offer, and then is scheduled to give his answer to Judge Joan K. Alexander May 23. "These matters have not been reviewed since...

The news came to him as he lay chained to a hospital bed, recovering from a chemotherapy treatment. Ronald Taylor, an inmate battling lung and liver cancer, learned Wednesday that a judge had overturned the murder conviction that put him behind bars 16 years ago. Then he began to cry. "The first thing he wants to do is breathe the fresh air and spend time with his family," said Taylor's attorney, Peter Tsimbidaros, who delivered the news...

State prison officials Thursday were investigating the apparent suicide of an inmate at the Bridgeport Correctional Center. Corrections staff on a routine tour found the 34-year-old inmate hanging from a bed sheet and unresponsive in his cell at 2:50 a.m. The identity of the inmate was not released pending notification of his family. The inmate, prison officials said, had tied a bed sheet around his neck and the other end to a smoke detector in his cell. He was the only inmate in the cell.

By MIKAELA PORTER, mmporter@courant.com and The Hartford Courant, April 14, 2014

ENFIELD - Approximately 120 inmates scheduled to be released from the Willard-Cybulski Correctional Institution this year attended the facility's first "re-entry fair" Monday morning. Among the speakers were two former inmates who discussed how they've given back to society after being released. Daee McKnight from Family Reentry, a nonprofit organization, said he goes to five different prisons each week and talks to inmates. "There's two components to our organization," McKnight said.

By ALAINE GRIFFIN, agriffin@courant.com and The Hartford Courant, April 10, 2014

Russell Peeler Jr., facing execution for ordering his younger brother to kill a woman and her 8-year-old son in Bridgeport in 1999, is taking on his own attorneys as he moves toward the start of a hearing on his final petition to win a new trial. Last month, Peeler's attorneys - taking a page from the legal strategy of serial killer Michael Ross' defense team - filed a motion seeking a competency evaluation for Peeler. Attorneys William H. Paetzold and Jeffrey C. Kestenband said Peeler's petition, or writ of habeas corpus, often a convict's last-resort bid for a new trial, is premature since the appeal of his death sentence is not complete and still in the briefing stage.